I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 299: No Wonder You Have a Private Jet—Because You Have an Airport

Three days passed in a flash, and finally, it was time to head to Korea for the tournament.

Although the team tournament wouldn't begin for another three days, they had to arrive early, rest at the hotel for a couple of days, and prepare themselves for the matches.

Early that morning, Yu Shao took a cab to the Southern Go Association and headed straight to the game review room where they had trained just a few days ago.

Yu Shao pushed open the door. Upon seeing the scene inside the room, a look of mild surprise appeared on his face.

Inside the review room, aside from Qin Lang, Gu Chuan, Le Wuqiang, and Su Yiming, there were also Xu Zijin, Wu Zhixuan, Wu Shuheng, Zheng Qin, and Fang Wuxin.

In addition to these familiar players, there were a few more professional players Yu Shao had seen around the association before but hadn’t played against—both male and female.

At that moment, Su Yiming was playing a game with Fang Haoxin, and everyone else was gathered around the board, focused on the match. It wasn’t until they heard the door open that they turned to look toward the entrance.

“Yu Shao, you’re here?”

Seeing that it was Yu Shao, Wu Zhixuan wrinkled her nose and muttered, “Can’t believe you showed up this late!”

Yu Shao walked up to the table, glanced at the board, and replied in a low voice, “There was a bit of traffic on the way. I’m late. But why are all of you here?”

“We’re going to Korea to hang out, watch the matches, and cheer you guys on.”

Wu Zhixuan grinned. “Surprised?”

“Aren’t you competing? You’re not playing?”

Yu Shao was a little taken aback. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”

Wu Zhixuan shook her head smugly, her expression saying, “You just don’t get it.” She beamed. “That’s exactly why I couldn’t tell you.”

“As for the tournament, we’re only staying for a week, and we don’t have any matches during that time. So we figured we’d also do a little exchange with the Korean Go Association.”

Wu Zhixuan flashed a peace sign, followed by a wink. “Rare chance for a vacation!”

Looking at her in that moment, Yu Shao really felt like Wu Zhixuan was the kind of girl born from a scoop of Cute-Cream—way too sweet. Kinda irresistible.

“Is the Go Association covering your flights and hotel?”

Yu Shao paused, then asked again.

Before Wu Zhixuan could reply, Xu Zi suddenly spoke in a cool voice: “We paid for it ourselves.”

“Yeah, of course they wouldn’t cover it. Self-funded. Some people even jumped in to answer first.”

Wu Zhixuan rolled her eyes at Xu Zijin and huffed, “Aren’t some people flying on their private jet?”

Hearing that, Xu Zi brushed the hair from her forehead behind her ear and calmly replied, “No need.”

Wu Zhixuan’s eyes widened. She puffed up her cheeks in frustration. “So you do have one, huh, little miss?”

“You’re only a year older than me.”

Xu Zi responded mildly, “You’re almost nineteen, right?”

“I just turned eighteen!”

At that, Wu Zhixuan was fuming. She had planned to act all big-sisterly and scold Xu Zijin a bit, but Xu Zi had flipped it right back on her!

Yu Shao watched the whole thing unfold, finding it quite amusing.

Ever since Xu Zi had beaten Wu Zhixuan in a match, things between them had been tense—especially with all the online chatter about who was prettier. Their relationship had only gotten worse.

Before Xu Zi became a pro, Wu Zhixuan had been the brightest star among the female pros at the Southern Go Association—utterly adored. But now, half of her face-fans had switched teams and supported Xu Zijin instead!

Sure, Wu Zhixuan had a great personality, but she was still a girl. How could she stand being told someone else looked better than her? And of all people—it had to be Xu Zi, who had beaten her!

Especially recently, when they faced off again in the Base Saint Match—and Wu Zhixuan lost again. That made things even worse between them.

True, she had lost to Zheng Qin before, and she’d been super salty about it—but she got over it in two days.

But Xu Zijin? Wu Zhixuan just couldn’t let it go.

She’d even said during a livestream game, “If Wu was born, why did Xu have to be born too?”—that’s how deep the grudge ran.

Now, Wu Zhixuan and Xu Zi were basically oil and water.

“Eighteen is basically nineteen, no?” Xu Zi countered again.

Hearing that, Wu Zhixuan’s face turned red with fury. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. In the end, she turned to look at Wu Shuheng.

Seeing his little sister turning to him, Wu Shuheng stared at the floor, totally pretending he wasn’t involved. Classic sibling behavior.

“No wonder you have a private jet.”

At that moment, Wu Zhixuan suddenly spotted Xu Zi’s weakness. Her eyes lit up, and she proudly puffed out her chest. “It’s ’cause you’ve got an airport.”

Xu Zijin’s expression shifted slightly as she replied coldly, “No wonder you can’t beat me at Go.”

“?”

Wu Zhixuan blinked in confusion. Why was Xu Zi suddenly bringing up the fact she’d lost to her in a match?

After a moment, it hit her—Xu Zi was implying she was all bust and no brains! Her chest started heaving from rage, and her fists clenched tightly.

“Ahem, why is Fang Haoxin playing with Su Yiming?”

Sensing things were about to explode, Yu Shao quickly changed the subject.

“Hmph!”

Wu Zhixuan snorted, shooting Xu Zi a glare like, “Yu Shao’s talking to me, not you. I’m not wasting time on you.”

Then she quietly explained to Yu Shao, “Fang Haoxin used to study Go in Seoul, right? He’s going back to see some friends. When he saw Su Yiming here, he said he wanted a game.”

“I see.”

Yu Shao had basically guessed that already when he saw them playing, but he nodded as if it were new info.

Then he noticed Xu Zi quietly watching him. His heart skipped a beat—he had a feeling Xu Zi knew he was faking it, but she didn’t call him out.

Thankfully, the two didn’t continue their bickering. Yu Shao relaxed slightly and turned his attention back to the game between Su Yiming and Fang Haoxin.

In this match, Su Yiming was playing Black, and Fang Haoxin was White.

After watching a few moves, Yu Shao’s eyes flickered with surprise. “Fang Haoxin’s actually playing pretty well.”

Previously, he’d thought Fang Haoxin was about on par with Zhuang Fei. If you equated skill strictly to rank, they were both around 2–3 dan level.

With that kind of strength, passing the Promotion Tournament was a given—but without real improvement, they wouldn’t get far in the pro world.

But in this game, Fang Haoxin’s skill level looked closer to a 6-dan.

That was scary—especially since Fang Haoxin was only fifteen.

Even so, the gap between him and Su Yiming was still obvious. Yu Shao could tell Su Yiming was playing very clean, never using aggressive or tricky moves.

It wasn’t quite a teaching game—but he was clearly holding back.

“Interesting. He’s actually going easy. I always thought he gave his all in every match.”

Yu Shao was a bit surprised. In his impression, Su Yiming played seriously even against much weaker opponents.

But here he was, going easy on Fang Haoxin.

“Ah!”

Just then, the door opened again. Ma Zhengyu walked in with reporter Ding Huan. They would be traveling to Korea together.

Seeing Su Yiming and Fang Haoxin playing, the two looked surprised. After exchanging a glance, they squeezed into the crowd to watch the match.

Tap, tap, tap...

The sound of stones being placed echoed through the room.

Soon after, Fang Haoxin looked at the board with reluctance in his expression, but eventually bowed his head and said, “I lost by half a point.”

“Thanks for the game.”

Su Yiming bowed in return. “Thank you.”

Then, after a brief review, Su Yiming smiled and said, “You’ve gotten a lot stronger since the Promotion Tournament.”

“I still have a long way to go.”

Fang Haoxin looked up at Su Yiming, took a deep breath, and said, “I hope next time we play on the tournament stage... you’ll go all out.”

Su Yiming paused slightly, then nodded. “Okay. I look forward to our match.”

As the game ended, Ma Zhengyu cleared his throat in the crowd and said, “Alright, time to pack up and head out. Everyone’s here. The bus is waiting outside the Go Association.”

With Ma Zhengyu’s call, everyone finally peeled their eyes off the board and began filing out, getting ready to board the bus to the airport.

Since they were heading overseas, everyone was hyped—chatting as they walked out.

“What should we eat when we get to Korea tonight? Korean BBQ?”

“Heard the bibimbap’s pretty good too! What about fried chicken or spicy noodles?”

“I just wanna know if my updates on Yu Shao will be first to drop.”

Hearing that, Wu Zhixuan couldn’t help glancing at the female pro who mentioned “Yu Shao.”

“Yu Shao? Doesn’t he follow anime too? Is Yu Shao handsome?” asked a male player, maybe in his seventies, curiously.

“Hehehe...”

A few of the guys exchanged looks and gave a knowing, mysterious smile. “Actually... not bad.”

Yu Shao looked at that smile and thought it wasn’t mysterious—it was pervy.

“Yu Shao, do you read Korean manhwa too?”

Hearing the conversation ahead, Wu Zhixuan turned and asked, puzzled, “What Korean manhwa? Recommend me one!”

Yu Shao answered firmly, “I never read them.”